£50,000 in seed funding  have been secured by a major South West offshore wind project to support its bid for more than £30 million of government funding. The South West Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator has been chosen to work up a detailed bid for funding provided through UKRI’s Strength in Places Fund. UKRI is providing £50,000 of early-stage funding to support development of the bid following a successful stage one application.

“The great South West has the potential to make a decisive contribution to the UK’s offshore wind energy targets by developing a new floating wind industry that can create thousands of jobs with huge export potential,” said Steve Jermy, executive chair of Wave Hub.

The project is aiming to build on Cornwall and Plymouth’s offshore renewables business and research to fast-track the construction of large scale floating offshore windfarms in the Celtic Sea from the mid-2020s onwards.

The South West Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator is being led by Wave Hub, the Cornwall Council-owned marine renewables research and technology organisation, in collaboration with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, A&P Group, Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council.

“This project is about global innovation in a high value industry and is a cornerstone of our Local Industrial Strategy. It is an opportunity to lead a post-pandemic green recovery and make a huge contribution to the UK’s economy and the fight against climate change,” added Mark Duddridge, chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP.

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